Vital Signs: Respiratory Rate

Presented by Amy Shortall-Cardillo and Clinical Procedure Manual Review Board

12-Month Subscription

Unlimited access to:

Thousands of CE Courses
Patient Education
Home Exercise Program
And more

Subscribe Now

First Chapter Free Buy Course

Video Runtime: 3 Minutes

Respiratory rate is a fundamental vital sign skill that is used to monitor various conditions being addressed in home healthcare. This is an assessment of breathing status that includes observations of the rate, depth, and pattern of breathing of the patient.

In this training, we’ll review the equipment and procedures for assessing a patient’s respiratory rate. This course includes

• Video demonstrations of procedures
• Downloadable procedure guide PDFs
• Tips and best practices for performing these procedures in the home

It is important to observe both inspiration, or breathing air into the body, and expiration, pushing old air out of the body. This skill applies to all home health staff, including nurses, aides, and therapists.

Meet your instructors

Amy Shortall-Cardillo

Amy Shortall-Cardillo is the director of compliance and education at Concordia Community Support Services in Cabot, Pennsylvania. In this role, she is responsible for the quality, compliance, and education programs for multiple home health, hospice, and private duty agencies. Amy ensures that each agency is working…

Read full bio

Clinical Procedure Manual Review Board

The MedBridge Clinical Procedure Manual Review Board ensures the development and maintenance of up-to-date and evidence-based clinical procedures. The review board is composed of leading nurse experts in the field: Danielle Pierotti, RN, PhD, CENP, and Margherita Labson, RN, BSN, MSHSA. The review board is involved in…

Read full bio

Chapters & learning objectives

1. Introduction

This chapter includes an introduction to respiratory rate and information on all of the equipment needed for this assessment.

2. Procedure: Respiratory Rate

This chapter will provide a step-by-step procedure guide and video demonstration of checking a patient’s respiratory rate.

3. Tips, Precautions, and Care Considerations

This chapter provides tips and considerations for checking a patient’s respiratory rate.

4. Documentation Guidelines

This chapter provides recommendations on what to note when documenting a patient’s respiratory rate.

5. Conclusion

This chapter includes learning assessment questions to assess the learner’s knowledge of skills covered in this course. A bibliography of referenced material is also included.